Things started off about as well as Baylor could have hoped on their first drive of the game.
Their receivers were doing a good job of blocking on screens, they got a pass interference call when they threw the ball downfield and a pass that looked like it was headed out of bounds somehow found it’s way into the arms of Lorenzo Charles.
Then Aaron Williams made his athletic interception in the end zone, and the game was over.
Baylor ended that first drive with 53 yards. After their next six drives, they finished the first half with 52 total yards. Oof.
Baylor has some pretty good offensive linemen and receivers, but you can’t expect to do anything against a Will Muschamp defense with a true freshman quarterback. Nick Florence looked wide-eyed from the first snap, and he was probably done after Chykie Brown sacked him from behind on a corner blitz. I told ChrisApplewhite that someone should start a business where you can send blindside blitzes against people on the street.
It’s ridiculous how well coached we are on the defensive side of the ball, and when you combine it with our athleticism you get the results that you see on the field. Last year we finished with 100 tackles for loss. We’re sitting at 101 after Baylor. We won’t have the as many sacks as we did last year, but we’re making up for that in interceptions. Last year we had six interceptions. We currently have nineteen. So keep the QB in the pocket and let him throw into the teeth of our defense.
All three levels of our defense are jumping pass routes now. Our DBs basically run the route the receiver is supposed to run. Emmanuel Acho jumped a route underneath against Baylor to get his first interception of the year, and Eddie Jones made a great read, pick and return for a td.
You can see how well coached we are on Jones’ interception. If the lineman tries to cut you, it’s because the ball is coming your way and they want you on the ground. So he keeps the linemen off his legs, reads the route and makes the pick. Want to see the biggest difference between the defense of 2007 and this year’s? Marcus Griffin returned an int against Baylor in 2007, but I’m pretty sure Eddie Jones ran faster on his return. I’m not joking when I say our current DEs are probably faster than our safeties were on that team.
Lamarr Houston in the conversation for All American honors. Sixteen TFLs and five sacks are better numbers than Roy Miller put up last year. Apples and oranges as far as the defense, but Houston is playing as well as anyone in the country at defensive tackle.
The Acho brothers continue to come up with turnovers, and it they send me an email about getting money out of Nigeria I’d be inclined to believe them.
Aaron Williams is an athletic freak with long arms and leaping ability. Usually those guys tend to be Nancys, but Williams will mix it up. Just watch opposing receivers try to block him.
But our fans must find something to complain about so they found it in the performance of our second and third team defenses in the fourth quarter. I wish I was joking. Normally you get graded on a curve when you put a walkon corner and four true freshmen on the field against an opponent who kept their first string on the field. But this is Sparta Internet!
So we roll on with our last home game of the year against Kansas. We played our best game of the year defensively against them last year, and it’s going to be a mudhole on Saturday night in front of a national television audience.
Unless Clark Ford gives up a touchdown.